Cricket Rules – Law 26 – Bye And Leg Bye
1. Byes
If the ball, delivered by the bowler, not being a No ball or a Wide, passes the striker without touching his bat or person, any runs completed by the batsmen from that delivery, or a boundary allowance, shall be credited as Byes to the batting side.
2. Leg byes
(a) If a ball delivered by the bowler first strikes the person of the striker, runs shall be scored only if the umpire is satisfied that the striker haseither (i) attempted to play the ball with his bator (ii) tried to avoid being hit by the ball.(b) If the umpire is satisfied that either of these conditions has been met runs shall be scored as follows.(i) If there iseither no subsequent contact with the striker’s bat or person,or only inadvertent contact with the striker’s bat or personruns completed by the batsmen or a boundary allowance shall be credited to the striker in the case of subsequent contact with his bat but otherwise to the batting side as in (c) below.(ii) If the striker wilfully makes a lawful second strike, Laws 34.3 (Ball lawfully struck more than once) and 34.4 (Runs scored from ball lawfully struck more than once) shall apply.(c) The runs in (b)(i) above, unless credited to the striker, shall,(i) if the delivery is not a No ball, be scored as Leg byes.(ii) if No ball has been called, be scored together with the penalty for the No ball, as No ball extras.
3. Leg byes not to be awarded
If in the circumstance of 2(a) above the umpire considers that neither of the conditions (i) and (ii) therein has been met, then Leg byes shall not be awarded. The batting side shall not be credited with any runs from that delivery apart from the one run penalty for a No ball if applicable. Moreover, no other penalties arising from that delivery shall be awarded to the batting side. The following procedure shall be adopted.(a) If no run is attempted but the ball reaches the boundary, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball, and disallow the boundary.(b) If runs are attempted and if(i) neither batsman is dismissed and the ball does not become dead for any other reason, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon as one run is completed or the ball reaches the boundary. The run or boundary shall be disallowed. The batsmen shall return to their original ends.(ii) before one run is completed or the ball reaches the boundary, a batsman is dismissed, or the ball becomes dead for any other reason, all the provisions of the Laws will apply, except that no runs and no penalties shall be credited to the batting side, other than the penalty for a No ball if applicable.
© Marylebone Cricket Club 2010
Back To Cricket Rules From Law 26 – Bye And Leg Bye
About Richard Pybus
I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.